Folding steps.



L. N. WOOLARD. FOLDING STEPS.

APPLIGATION FILED OCT. 5. 1914. 1,128,21 2. Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

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THE NORRIS PETERS cu. PHOTO-LITHO. WASHINGTON D. C.

L. N. WOOLARD.

FOLDING STEPS. APPLICATION FILED OUT. 5. 1914.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

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'HII NORRIS PliIE/PS co PHOTO-LITHO WASHINGTON, D. c.

ran STATES FAT OF IQ.

FOLDING STEPS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

Application filed October 5, 1914. Serial No. 8655128.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LINYEAR N. WOOLARD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Vashington, in the county of Beaufort and State of NorthCarolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in F0ldingSteps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skiled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in folding stepsand has for its principal object to provide a set of steps which isparticularly adapted for use on railroad cars and the like.

Another object is to provide a device which may be secured to a wagon orother suitable structure in such a way that the same may be used as afire escape.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novelarrangement of levers and links for controlling the operation of thedevice.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel combination and arrangement of parts which will be fully set forthin the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side view in elevation of a set of steps constructed inaccordance with this invention illustrating the same as it would appearin a lowered position, Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustratingthe steps in raised position, Fig. 3 is a front view in elevation of thesteps as they would appear when lowered, Fig. l is a detail sectionalview taken on line l4 of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional viewtaken on line 5 5 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view ofone of the uprights showing the latch member for holding the lever inits operated position.

Referring now to the drawings by characters of reference, the numeral 1designates the platform of the car or other device on which the stepsare used to which the upper links of the lazy tongs forming the stepsupport which will be more fully hereinafter described are pivotallysecured. These lazy tongs are designated by the numeral 2 and comprisethe cooperating links 3 and 4: which are respectively horizontal andvertical when the device is in its unfolded position. The upper links 4:of the device are pivoted as at 5 to the platform and each link isprovided with an upward extension 7 6 which terminates in its upperextremity in the eyelet 7 to which the chain 8 forming the rail of thedevice extends.

Pivotally secured as at 9 to the central pivot between. the uppermostvertical bar a and horizontal bar 3 are the brace rods 10 which extendupwardly and rearwardly and are secured as at 11 to the platform. To theend of uppermost brace link 3 is pivotally secured as at 12, the link13, which link is ends of which are pivoted as at 20 to the link 21, theopposite end of which is pivoted between the ends of the links 13 at thepoint where they are connected to the lever 15.

Secured intermediate the central pivot point and the outer end of eachof the horizontal links 3 are the platforms 22 which are supported onthe pivot rod 23 and these platforms are arranged to form the treads ofthe steps. A suitable latch member 24 is secured to the upright 25 whichis secured as at 26 to the platform 1 and this latch member is arrangedto engage the lever and hold the same in a position illustrated in Fig.2 when the steps are not in use.

It will be found that in the foregoing that in use when it is desired tolower the steps, the handle portion 17 of the lever 15 is released fromits position beneath the latch member 24 and the lever permitted toswing on its pivot 16 in its position illus# trated in Fig. 1.- Thiswill permit the lazy tread 22 in position to permit the user to easilyclimb the steps. Upon the desire of the user to raise the steps, thelever is swung on its pivot 16 in the position illustrated in Fig. 2which will cause the lazy tongs through the action of the levers andlinks 13 and 21 to assume the position shown in Fig. 2 and thereby drawthe steps to their inoperative position. The handle portion 17 is thenpushed beneath the latch member 24: and it will be evident that thedevice will be locked in its raised position and any danger of the stepsfalling or being folded downwardly into their operative position iseliminated.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that such changesmay be made in the combination and arrangement of parts as will fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

WV hat is claimed is z 1. A device of the class described including apair of lazy tongs, bolts holding the lazy tongs in spaced parallelrelation, treads connected between the lazy tongs and sup ported by thebolts, uprights carried by the vertical links of the lazy tongs, eyeletsat the upper ends of the upright, chains eX- tending through the eyeletsand forming hand rails and a lever and link mechanism for raising thesteps to inoperative position and lowering the same into operativeposition at the will of the user.

2. A device of the character described ineluding a pair of lazy tongs,said lazy tongs being in spaced parallel relation, bolts securing thelazy tongs in operative position, treads supported by the bolts and onthe horizontal arms of the lazy tongs, uprights secured to the verticalarms of the lazy tongs, chains carried by the upper ends of the uprightsto form hand rails, links pivotally connected to the upper ends of theuppermost horizontal arms of the lazy tongs, a lever pivotally connectedto the arms of the ends of the link, and means connected to the lazytongs and to the lever to prevent the link from forming a dead center atthe point where they are connected to the lazy tongs.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

LINYEAR N. VVOOLARD.

Witnesses:

S. B. ETHERIDGE, THos. G. BLOW.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G.

